Where The Ice Gives Way Chapter 134

**Charlotte**

The lake goes silent. Blake’s howl hangs in the air, deep and furious. It rolls across the ice with a command buried inside it so strong my own body reacts. Shanti stills beneath me. Titan freezes at my side. Even the rogues hesitate, their paws locked against the ice, their bodies shaking as if something inside them has been grabbed by the throat. *Stop.* The word isn’t spoken, but I feel it everywhere.

The rogues closest to us tremble, heads lowering, their snarls cutting off into broken whines. One of them sinks on its belly, claws scraping weakly at the frozen surface while its yellow eyes flicker. They change for half a breath into something frightened and almost aware. My chest pulls toward it, and Shanti rises. *Come back,* she whispers through me, and the silence breaks.

A rogue farther back throws itself forward with a wild, twisted sound, crashing into the one that had started to lower itself. The frozen pause shatters all at once. Bodies move again, snarls rip through the air, and the rogues surge over each other, skidding and scrambling as they force their way across the ice. Blake slams into the first one that gets too close. Titan meets another on my left. The patrol wolves are fighting near the edge now, one limping badly, one holding two rogues back with blood dark against his flank. There still aren’t enough of us. There are too many of them. Too many teeth, too many bodies, too many broken minds pressing closer with one single focus.

I can feel it. Every time one looks at me, something hooks under my skin. Every growl carries a thread of hunger and pain. Every set of eyes feels wrong, yellow and lost, but behind them, some flashes don’t belong to the beast. Shanti’s paws slide under us. Lex’s body hits mine before I go down, bracing me with his side. His head snaps toward me with blood on his muzzle and fear in his eyes. He growls, and then he’s gone again, throwing himself at another rogue that lunges for the gap between us.

The bite in my shoulder burns, but it is already trying to close. Heat crawls under the torn fur and skin, knitting too fast, draining too much. My legs shake, and the world tilts for a second before Titan presses into my other side. *Lotty,* Charlie says, voice tight. *Don’t pass out on me.*

I push my paws into the ice and lift my head. The rogues keep coming. Blake’s command slowed them, but it didn’t reach deep enough. My howl reached deeper, but it pulled too much back with it. I can feel the place where the two sounds meet. His order and my call. Force and memory. Protection and return. Maybe together—

A rogue breaks through on Titan’s side, and he meets it with a snarl, his body crashing hard into its chest. They slide away from me, snapping and tearing, and another rushes into the space he leaves. I step forward before Lex can reach it, but the ice shifts beneath my paws. A thin crack snaps somewhere under us. Titan presses into my side, forcing me back into position, and Lex lunges past me before the rogue can use the opening. He hits it shoulder-first, driving it away from me, but the impact sends both of them sliding too far. Lex’s claws scrape hard against the ice as he fights to turn himself back.

Another rogue comes in from the left. Titan meets it with a snarl, his jaws closing around its shoulder as they crash down together. The ice groans beneath their weight, and I feel the vibration run up through my legs. There’s too much weight. The lake wasn’t made for this. Some of the pack start to break through the trees on the far side. They hit the ice, sliding wide before catching themselves and throwing their bodies into the nearest rogues. The pack is coming, but so are the rogues, more matted fur and yellow eyes, more bodies pushing forward. So many bodies.

Lex gets back to my side. His body presses in front of mine, head low, shoulders rising hard with every breath.

*We need to move off the ice,* Bake sends.

Titan shifts against my side, already turning his head toward the closest bank.

*Left side,* Charlie answers. *Less of them there.*

Lex’s eyes snap that way, then back to the rogues pressing in ahead of us. *Move together. No gaps.*

I stay between them as we start edging sideways across the ice, our paws sliding with every step. Lex stays slightly ahead, taking the first hit when a rogue lunges too close. Titan keeps his shoulder against my flank, pushing me back into line every time I slip. A rogue crawls low across the ice, paws splayed, belly almost dragging as it tries to cut us off. I can feel the human part inside it. He’s cold and broken. The rogue snarls and lunges. Lex takes it down before it reaches me, but the force sends him sliding too far. Titan surges past me, catches Lex’s shoulder with his own, and stops him from skidding out of our line. I push in close again, and we move another few metres. We’re getting closer to the bank, but a crack branches beneath my back paw and I freeze.

Don’t stop, Charlie says, voice strained.

Titan nudges me, making me move again. The ice groans beneath us, thin lines spreading here and there. Two more pack wolves hit the ice from the far side, sliding, finding their footing, and coming to our aid. More howls rise from the trees, and a piece of me is relieved. But they are scattered, arriving in pieces, and the rogues are still pouring onto the lake.

The three of us keep backing toward the bank. Rogues press from the ice behind us, sliding and snapping, forcing us closer to the shore. But more rogues pace along the snowbank there. They lower their heads as we approach, yellow eyes fixed on me. Lex’s breathing turns rough beside me.

*We’re getting boxed in,* he sends.

*I know.* Blake snarls, stepping over a crack as it splits wider beneath him. He surges forward, and Titan moves with him. I move between them, snapping at the rogue nearest the bank as Lex drives into another, and Titan catches one trying to swing around behind us.

We gain another metre, and the snow is so close now. But the larger rogue at the bank steps forward, blocking the narrow space we fought for. Behind us, the rogues on the ice rush harder, shoved forward by the ones still coming out of the trees. The ice cracks again. Lex presses into my left side. Titan presses into my right. Together, we stand caught between the breaking lake and the waiting shore.